My Summer Knitting Project

I'm sure you all would rather I regale you with tales of my boys, than write about knitting. I know I would rather read stories about my boys than about my knitting, but it's been awhile since I've blogged, and I'm trying to get back into the swing of it now that we've pretty much settled into a routine, and this has been in the forefront of my mind, so here it is.  I promise to write about the boys next week. Until then, here's what I did this summer while we had the summer we had.  

This actually starts back five or so years ago when we were living in Alaska. While we were there, I decided to take all of my leftover yarn from projects and make these hexagons that some day I'd put together into a blanket.

By the time we left Alaska, I had a decent sized box full of them. Finally two(?) Christmases ago I finally got around to making the blanket. 

(You can see it behind Deacon.) Sadly, I hadn't made enough hexagons to make a decent sized blanket. The blanket I wound up barely covered my legs. So, I set about trying to make more hexagons with other yarn, and failed. I couldn't remember how to make the hexagons, and every time I came close the hexagons were WAY bigger than the original ones and the whole thing wouldn't come together nicely. Thus it was back into the box until I could figure out what to do.

This summer inspiration struck and I decided to tear apart ALL of the hexagons and make hats out of the yarn. And so, from Memorial Day to Labor Day I pulled apart hexagons and knit them into hats. By the time I was finished I had made 16 hats.

Aren't some of them lovely? I'll be honest. I'm not overly impressed with all of them, so don't worry if you aren't either. But some of them I really love and am super pumped with how they came out.  What's that? You want a "closer look" at them? Okay. Just keep in mind, a lot of the colors look better in person than in these pictures.

Now, I just have to decide what to do with them.

Before We Got Down Here

I was organizing pictures today and realized I let July go by without blogging (intentionally), but I have some fun pictures and stories to share, so here's a "dump" post on a few things that happened in July while we were between homes and what's it.

Fourth of July we went to a bbq at a friend of Josh's house. Before we left his wife gave me some dessert to take with me. We left, and all was good until we hit Route 80. As soon as my car started picking up speed, Zeke and Finn both went, "Whoa! What was THAT?!" When asked what they were talking about, they said something white went flying past and went splat on the road. I looked at Josh and said, "Where's my dessert?" I'm sure you've figured out where my dessert was. If you guessed all over Route 80 you're correct! Not only was it all over Route 80 though, it was all over the one side of my car:

Ohhh yeahhh.

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The boys did VBS (Vacation Bible School) at the same place they did it last year, and had a BLAST. They put the kids on a stage the last night to perform the songs they learned throughout the week, and that may have been a mistake. After Finn's dance recital, the kid LOVES the stage and totally rocked out all night. 

Zeke is right in front of him and Deacon is off to the left (as you look at the video) a little bit. Finn stole the show. Quite a few moms afterwards told me how much they enjoyed watching him up there, and how much fun he must be to have around.

Yes. Yes he is.

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The day after our movers finished packing us up, the fire department was on our street doing drills. They asked Josh if they could use our place for a few minutes and Josh said, "Of course!" In return, they let Finn check out any fire truck of his choosing. The fire department on Picatinny are seriously some of the coolest and nicest guys. 

We also found a frog hopping about our front yard that day. That's not a ground breaking event, but it was pretty neat.

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Josh got an award before we left. 

Finn got wigged out by the stairs we had to climb to get to the award ceremony, so he was uber cranky until I made a joke of him being in my way as I was trying to take pictures. My joke led to this happening while the ceremony was going on. 

At least Finn was happy and laughing again. Right?

*****

We also spent some time at playgrounds:

at Josh's parents' house, which means the beach:

and I got to meet my niece, Kara:

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All in all, a great month where we spent 1/3 of it in our house, 1/3 in temporary lodging and 1/3 at Josh's parents'. We had fun everywhere we went and that is pretty much July 2015 in a nutshell.

The First Week

Everything started this week: school for the boys, soccer for the boys, Bible study for me. It was great getting back into the swing of things, and I'm thinking it's going to be a really good year. I've managed to keep myself busy every morning so far, so I it hasn't completely sunk in that I'm home alone all day every day now.

So, Tuesday was the first day of school. Zeke is in 4th grade this year, Deacon is in 3rd, and Finn started KINDERGARTEN!?!

They do full day kindergarten here, so it was a bit of an adjustment for Finn. As soon as we got home from school he just lost it. He snapped at Zeke then put himself in his room. I went to check on him after he'd been up there for a few minutes and said, "Monkey, you okay?" To which he replied in the deepest, flattest voice he can do, "No. And I'll never be okay ever again." OH! This child. I had to leave so I didn't laugh in his face. Eventually he was okay, and came back down in a better mood about 45 minutes later. The subsequent days have gone better.

Tuesday was also Zeke's first day of soccer. He has a really great coach and it seems like a good group of kids. He had a blast running around and learning some new things. At one point he ran over to get a drink and said, "Soccer is SO much fun! And so is school!" And then he ran away. A dad sitting next me said, "Wow. How did you get him to like school so much?" I informed him that we're a bunch of nerds and books and math and learning are some of our favorite things. He said he was going to start sending his boys over to my house in hopes we'll rub off on them. Ha!

Wednesday Finn and Deacon have soccer. Poor Finn. Apparently someone decided the 5 year olds should have practice from 5:15-6:15 (dinnertime), games usually at noon or one (lunch/nap time), and have practice on a field that has ZERO shade. It's still hot and humid most days here, so 3 minutes into Finn's practice he was dripping sweat and ready to go home. Hopefully it'll start cooling off soon. Or rain every Wednesday from now through November 14th. (Did I say that out loud? Oops.)

After Finn's practice is Deacon's practice (at a different location). Deacon's age group had the most kids (30 something) and the least coaches (1) sign up, so their games will be a little different. I'm not sure how it'll work out, but the coach, I was told, used to coach at either the collegiate or semi-professional level, so I have faith he knows what he's doing. He does have some parent volunteers, so hopefully it'll be a fun season and Deacon won't get lost in the crowd.

Then, yesterday, PWOC started. I met some ladies, had some good food, and signed up to take a study on the books of Joshua and Judges. I'm super pumped as I love the Old Testament and history and what's it. 

Saturdays are soccer game days. I think of the 8 or 9 Saturdays they play, ONE of those weeks is a week where there aren't any time conflicts. I think there's also one Saturday where all 3 play at the same time in different locations. Yee-haw! This is going to be fun!

And that, as they say, is that. A good first week getting started and getting things underway. Zeke came out of school yesterday, gave me a hug and said, "I think this is going to be a very good school year." I think so too, and I'm looking forward to it all.

Walterland: Virginia, is Open For Business!

Hey all! What a summer we have been having over here. Obviously the biggest thing that happened (besides my sister, Katherine, giving birth to the most beautiful baby girl ever!) is that we moved from New Jersey to Virginia. We got down here on August 1st, and after receiving our stuff the 4th, we are FINALLY unpacked and settled. Sure, there are few things left to hang on the walls here and there, but I decided enough was enough, and it's enough to get me back here to show off some pics of our new place, and maybe even entice a few of you to come visit? Anyhoo, on to the tour!

The front of the house:

Nice, right?

Here's our crazy front door:

It's just one big knob. What?

As you step through the front door you will find a tiny bathroom on your left (Josh loves it because he says it makes him feel like a giant) and a closet on your right (they're swapped in the pic because I took it from the other side so you could see the doors):

From this entryway you come to the rest of the house. Let's go upstairs first since it's really just bedrooms and closets.

So, you go up the stairs and then there's the boys' bathroom (no pic - it's a bathroom), Deacon's room:

Finn's room:

Zeke's room:

then our room:

Our room has a pretty sweet bathroom, with a rain shower (that's the shower head coming out of the ceiling):

Josh LOVES the rain shower because it allows his 6'4 body to stand up straight in the shower instead of having to bend at awkward angles to get all the shampoo off his head and what's it. 

There's also two linen closets on this floor.  Now let's head back down to the main floor.

As you come in the house and turn left, you enter our dining room. 

It's sort of plain at the moment, but soon the walls will be covered with the boys' artwork and that'll be fabulous.  From the dining room you enter the tiny kitchen.

I seriously feel like I'm back in Germany some days. Christine proposed the idea that most families living in these houses are dual income families and so no one really cooks, which means the kitchens aren't that important to them. I think she's on to something. It does have a nice pantry though:

Next to the kitchen is some space where we stuck the breakfast table and Tony Stark.

And seriously you guys, Tony couldn't be happier there. He's been basking and doing yoga poses all over the place.

Next to the Tiny Terror of the Terrarium (my nickname for the turtle sometimes) is our living room.

The living room has two doors that lead out onto our tri-level deck:

which leads to our backyard (view from the doors):

Back between the kitchen and the dining room is the door to the garage (no pics because it's a garage). From the garage is a door also leading to the deck, but more specifically, to the grilling deck. This deck has a thing to hook up the grill to the natural gas in the house, so you never have to buy propane tanks. How cool is that?!

Back inside. Next to our living room, or if you made a right instead of a left upon entering the house, is our library:

AhhhAAAhhhAHHH!

This is also the home of Josh's legos (which are still being unpacked):

Now, back to the kitchen. Across from the garage door is the basement door, and the basement looks like this:

Needless to say, this is where the boys spend almost all of their time. There's also a bathroom down here, and the laundry/storage room. The basement also has double doors that lead out into the yard.

And that, as they say, is that.  Anyone up for a road trip now?